More Than Survive.

Chapter 4

The door opened and Rachel came in, "What do you want?"
"I just came to tell you that you've got a couple visitors coming in." She said, "They'll be coming in here to see you. But they won't come in unless you want to see them."
"No, I'll see whoever wants to see me." I said, "The more people vouching for my release the better."
"You may not be here for long." She said, "Just until we figure out what's going on with you and how to help."
"Yeah, good luck." I said and after she saw she wasn't going to get anything else out of me she left.
In all fairness, I'm just happy she hasn't taken my glasses off of me, that could prove painful. But they probably will later. The door opened again and the first person in was Alfred.
"Hi, Alfie." I said as I stood and went over to him.
"Master Dick." He greeted, "How are you feeling?"
"Eh, could be worse I guess." I tried for some humour, but it didn't work.
"Why did you not approach us about this?" He asked after a moment of silence.
"Come on Richard." SQUIP taunted, "Tell him the truth."
"I couldn't." I said, "He was stopping me. I can't even tell you properly now. I'm sorry."
"I must ask something, Richard." Alfred said with sudden sincerity, "This started after Joker gave you that serum didn't it?"
I tried to form the word yes, then nod but nothing happened. I looked over to SQUIP with a death glare and Alfred followed my gaze but it's obvious he can't see anything but the white wall.
"Sorry Alfred." I said, "I can't say."
"It's fine." He said, "Get well soon Master Dick." And he was gone.
Almost immediately after the door closed it opened again and Bruce came in.
"Why would you talk to him?" SQUIP asked, "He's the one who brought you here."
"And you're the reason he brought me here." I sneered back and turned to face Bruce, "Hey Bruce."
"Richard." He greeted and I cringed, he was still mad.
"Look, about what I said earlier. I didn't mean any of it." I said, "I'm sorry."
"I don't care about that." He said, lies, "I just want to know why you didn't tell me about this."
"I've just had this conversation with Alfred." I groaned, "It's because I couldn't. And no, don't bother with any other questions about it, I can't tell you."
He stayed silent a while then before bringing me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around him and we stayed there for a moment.
"Please get better Richard." He said.
"I'll try." Was all I could say as he left.
Next was Conner.
"Oh great." SQUIP rolled his eyes, "I don't like this one." I didn't respond to his antics but when I saw his eyes light up I was instantly filled with fear, "I know what we should do. Let's get rid of him."
Suddenly I was fighting with Conner.
"Woah, the hell are you doing Robin?" He asked as he ducked a punch but was met with a kick.
"I don't mean to." I explained as I landed another punch on him and the door flooded open to bring in restraining staff, "It's not me."
"Then who the freaking hell is it?" He asked as I was held back by five members of staff.
"It's-" But I couldn't form the words.
I swear if that happened one more time I was going to kill him. All of a sudden I felt a pinch in my neck and my vision went fuzzy. Great, I hated this.

I woke back up, still in my cell but now it seemed a lot brighter. I felt my face and almost died, my glasses were gone. And my turtleneck.
"What did I miss?" I asked.
"I don't know." SQUIP replied, "Without your brain activity I wasn't active."
"Nice, can't you check the footage or something?" I said, sarcasm dripping from my voice.
He seemed to be doing something then, I assume checking the footage, as his eyes clouded over and his stance became incredibly straight. I looked around the room again but there was nothing. I couldn't even tell which wall held the door. This was hell. Then a slot opened on the wall in front of me and I could see Wally's face the other side.
"Rob." He whispered and I went over to see him, "Hey, oh my god. You're not wearing glasses."
"I know." I replied, "They probably removed them because of a safety risk."
"Your eyes, and what's those lines over you?" He seemed to be genuinely confused, so whatever happened in the past however long I was out, didn't affect him.
"I wish I could tell you but SQUIP has a hold of my tongue." I said and then paused, I said his name. I looked over my shoulder, he still seemed a million miles away, "Wally, pay close attention. This is important. When Joker made me drink the Mountain Dew there must have been something in it because I then got this thing called a SQUIP. He's not on the internet anywhere but he can control me and he's constantly commenting about how awful you are. And that's the reason there's a load of these circuit board looking thingy's over me."
"What? That sounds mad." Wally asked, looking lost, "You mean there's a drug in Mountain Dew that makes you see things."
"No, a nanocomputer that makes me do things." I replied, "And Joker knows the cure but he gave it to me as a riddle."
"Spit it out." He said, "I'll help any way I can."
"No." I said and turned back around to see SQUIP was active again.
"You've said enough." He ground out, looking genuinely mad.
"What do you mean no?" Wally asked, "Don't you want help?"
"Yes." I started but Squip cut me off making me speak his own words, "But how are you meant to help me? You can barely figure out your right from your left. Get lost loser."
"Rob..." He started but then it seemed to dawn on him, "No that's the SQUIP talking isn't it?"
"If your friend doesn't go away we're going to have to make him Richard." SQUIP threatened and I turned to face him again.
"Wally, go away." I ordered him.
"Rob-" He began but I cut him off, "Go."
I heard the wall slide back into place and Wally must have walked off. I walked over to SQUIP, trying to make myself as tall as him, "What happened then?"
"They checked you over." He said, "And moved you in here. That's all."
"Can you get me out?" I asked.
"Yes, but I'm not going to." He replied with a smug look, "Call it revenge for blabbing to ginger."
"I can deal with that." I said, "You'll slip up again at some point and then I can tell them the riddle."
He gave me a look as if to say that wasn't going to happen and I just returned it. Wally would tell the others and this would be over. I can't wait.

It felt like years before the door opened and someone came in, Wally.
"Hey bro, you okay?" He asked as he closed it again.
"Peachy." I replied, "What are you up to out there?"
"Well we started doing research on the SQUIP thing but we can't find it anywhere." Wally explained.
"He is truly an imbecile." SQUIP muttered but I chose to ignore him.
"We need that riddle, Rob." He continued, "It's the only way we can help you."
"And I wish I could Wally." I sighed, "But I can't physically say. And don't bother suggesting mentally, I can't be connected to the mindlink."
"Right, okay." He seemed like he didn't have anything else to say now and I held back a sigh.
"Do you think Hotdog will give up?" SQUIP asked.
"Hotdog?" I almost sniggered and Wally looked back up from the floor at me.
"What?" He asked, genuinely confused.
"Well, he had a yellow costume, ginger hair and red accents."SQUIP said, "Sounds like a hotdog to me."
"So what's Artemis?" I asked, "Broccoli?"
"Yes." SQUIP said, his eyes lighting up with laughter, "That's a good one."
"Dude, you okay?" Wally asked waving a hand in front of my face and I blinked as I looked back at him, "You're muttering about food."
I couldn't hold in my laughter any longer as I looked at his concerned face. I don't even know why this is funny, maybe I'm going mad. I heard, rather than saw, Wally get up and leave. My eyes were filled with tears of laughter. God, I was so going mad.
"This is almost as good as the What's the difference between ignorance and apathy?" SQUIP chuckled from over in his corner.
"I don't know and I don't care." I shouted out and we both collapsed into laughter again.
Maybe SQUIP wasn't so bad after all...